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May 6, 2012by: Heather Brummett

Jennie-O & Champions for Kids:CFK May SIMPLE Service Project & Make The Switch Challenge! #cbias #JennieoCFK

With childhood obesity affecting an alarming number of children in the US, 12.5 million, and parents are looking for ways to provide their children with the healthiest meals possible. To support their efforts, Jennie-O and Champions for Kids have teamed up for the CFK May SIMPLE Service Project: Make The Switch Challenge! This challenge is all about identifying a unhealthy item in your family’s diet and switching it out for a healthier option then using your savings to make a healthy donation to kids in need!

How it works: Gather your friends, family, and coworkers to collectively give up one unhealthy food or beverage item for a day. Pool the savings to provide a gift card to a school nutritionist, teacher or social worker to help provide nutritious food to children in your community! Then send your great Report and Photos!

When I heard about the CFK May SIMPLE Service Project I had to join! That day I had a talk with my kids about the idea and asked them what they would be willing to give up in order to help others. We decided to go beyond one day and do it for a week! It was a touching conversation. I love that children are so willing to help others. Here is a video of their precious ideas.

My little girl was able to remember when we went through a very hard time and were not able to have extras or even many healthy foods. My husband and I were both laid off and for the first time we turned to groups like WIC for help. I was shocked to learn that so many of the items they offer were not very healthy options. They offered things like peanut butter, rice, bread, cereal and beans. As a mom trying to raise healthy kids my heart would break when I was not able to give them healthier options. Thankfully God blessed us with a job very quickly and we can now give back to others in need.

As we discussed who we wanted to help we had two ideas: families we know in need or a charity in our community. The charity I called said that they prefer gift cards over foods as donations. While I was shocked it helped us decide who to help. So we together thought of several families that would not ask for helps but we know need the help.It was important to me that my kids were involved in this challenge!

My little man and I took off to Walmart to search for Jennie-O products to get together for our donations. Check out our shopping trip our path to purchase

I was impressed with the selection of Jennie-O products! I decided that we were also doing the Make The Switch Challenge by switching to to turkey for a bit and see how it compares to eating red meat. There are so many benefits of Jennie-O turkey including gluten free options, lean meat, lower sodium options and more! I was excited to try the turkey franks since my son and I eat hot dogs a lot for lunch. The turkey dogs were gluten free and 50% less fat than our traditional franks. YEAH! I was also excited about the boxed turkey and gravy for under $4!That is perfect for weeknight meals. It is both healthy and easy! After purchasing the items for donations I went back and bought some items for my family!

I decided to get enough items for each family to heave one week’s worth of meals. So along with the Jennie-O products I got vegetables, bread and other items to make meals. I stopped by Ross and found these great baskets for about $4! I packaged up the groceries and included recipes from the magazines I found at the check out. Then little man and I went out to deliver! It was so much fun to leave the baskets on the porches of these families. I decided it was better to deliver and go so that the families did not have a chance to turn it away or feel bad about accepting the items. I was happy just imagining their faces when they saw dinners for this week were provided and were healthy for their families!

What about you?

Have you been in a place where you wished you could provide healthy options for your kids and family? Do you wish you could help others by simply giving up things that you do not really need? You can join the challenge and become 1 of millions to make a difference!If you feel inspired to do something in your community be sure to share it with Champions for Kids

Follow me and others on twitter as we discuss #JennieoCFK and how we are making a difference!

For more information check out these sites:

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #JennieOCFK #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% mine and honest.

About Heather Brummett

I am Heather Brummett , the owner of Living on Love and Cents, a Christian, wife and mom of 2. I'm a just a real mom, sharing my real life experiences with the world. Thank you for being a part of my world. Here you will find recipes, crafts, fun ideas for the kids, how to work at home, how to live on less, great deals, and the latest news in and around Houston. To be featured or for information on freelance work contact me at livingonloveandcents@gmail.com.

Heather, WOW! This project is absolute amazing. The packages that you donated were FULL of healthy items; I can’t imagine how grateful the families were. I can definitely tell that this was very personal to you and your family. I loved the video of your kids, they are so sweet! Thank you so much for your participation!

What a great donation you made! I’m sure it is very natural to decline help, so it must have been fabulous for your recipients to open their doors and see such a healthy basket of food waiting for them!